Narcissis flew over Legolas' head as he managed to duck in time, his reactions quick enough for her movements in the years since her return. He twirled around as he heard two sets of growling. What he saw, greatly disturbed him. He was watching as his sister was facing against another gargoyle. It almost appeared to a familiar face in his eyes but he couldn't tell during the commotion. The battle between the gargoyles continued. Legolas thought it looked like Shentree but he wasn't certain if it was or not.

The rest of the Fellowship also couldn't help but watch the two gargoyles claw at each other. The new gargoyle soon overpowered the gargoyle that was with the Fellowship.

Legolas and Aragorn soon lifted their bows and aimed them at the two gargoyles, hoping for the moment that they shoot and slow down their new attacker. The new gargoyle saw this action and quickly reacted by managing to catch Narcissis off-guard when she glanced over at them. The paler gargoyle was soon tackled to the ground and she felt an arm around her neck, lifting her up to a standing position.

"Be careful elven princeling, or else she will die a painful death," the gargoyle told him.

Legolas immediately knew that voice as he lowered his bow. It greatly disturbed him to know that it was indeed Shentree. He couldn't believe that it was Shentree had been following them. He couldn't figure out why just yet. He hoped to find out soon enough.

"Nice to see you again... Shentree," he coldly said. "Now leave her out of this."

The gargoyle looked at the captive struggling in her arms before looking back at Legolas and the rest of the Fellowship. She snickered at them before glancing back at Legolas.

"No, I will not. She is just as involved in this as you are. You should know that," Shentree told him, a smirk on her face. "Now promise that you and your friends will not attack me or else someone will soon be dead."

Legolas sighed as he looked at his friends. He hated to let the others know about any relationship he had with a gargoyle but he soon dropped his bow to the ground. Not only did he have his sister to think about, he also had a niece or a nephew to think about as well.

"I will not attack you as long as you pose any threat to any of us," Legolas snarled at the gargoyle. 'Particlurlay my sister in the condition she is in.'

Aragorn soon lowered his bow and the group was curious as to why they would do such a thing. The ranger didn't like only two of them knowing the truth about the situation while others did not. He gave an angry sigh.

"I cannot believe that the two of you are giving in to the demands of this creature," Gimli growled at the elf. "Both of them are dangerous. They are gargoyles."

"The reasons are my own, dwarf. I do not have to explain myself to you," Legolas almost snarled back.

Shentree smiled as she saw the banter between the elf and dwarf. She knew she could this information to her advantage sometime in the future.

'This could prove useful. Very useful information,' she thought to herself. "Just remember dear prince that I am not afraid to use force to get my point across."

Legolas watched as Shentree pulled out a small dagger and raised it to Narcissis' throat. He growled as he stared the gargoyle before him. He reluctantly nodded as he faced the ground.

Shentree soon released Narcissis, who gasped for air as she knelt on the ground. She crawled over to the Fellowship, next to her brother. Both Narcissis and Legolas stared down the gargoyle now standing amongst them.

"What do you want?" Legolas demanded.

"You are not in a position to make demands dear prince. It has definitely been a while, hasn't it been?" wondered Shentree as she began to circle Legolas. "It's been a few years since you visited my territory. And escaped from it."

Legolas was trying his hardest not to punch the gargoyle in the face and leaving her behind but he managed not to as she stopped behind him. He could almost feel her breathing down his neck.

"I can see you're not going to answer anything now. We will deal with this later, elf," Shentree snarled at him as she stepped to one side of him. "Maybe your sister would like to get involved in this conversation."

"Just leave my sister out of this," he told her, facing the gargoyle.

"Oh it's too late for that now. She's already involved, like I said. Just like you, she escaped. No one had ever escaped from the Dark Forest before the two of came in to visit us all those centuries ago. Before the two of you first saw myself, Banside and Sathed. That's why the two of you need to die for it. But I feel it's too late since you've already lived to tell the tale," replied Shentree as the others continued to watch. "And I know what happened to your friend several months ago. I met up with Banside again a couple months ago and he told me what happened. It was a very intriguing story. Shall I tell your friends here?"

"They don't need to know," Legolas replied, balling his hand up into a fist.

"Fine, I will simply tell them later then," Shentree replied in an innocent sounding voice as she glanced back at him.

Legolas growled as he watched the gargoyle. Shentree looked over at the rest of the Fellowship and couldn't help but laugh. Legolas was a bit surprised that she knew what happened to his friend all those months ago but he should have figured that the gargoyles must have kept in touch sometimes.

"You know, I've never seen such a pitiful group of friends before. You must have had some difficulty lately making friends," she mused. "I'm surprised the dwarf actaully came out of the mountain. They are so hard-headed and greedy. Also very stubborn. I am surprised he isn't blinded by the light."

"Why you..." started Gimli before he headed for her with his axe.

She grabbed his axe before it reached her. The two soon stared at each other and he was surprised by what she had done.She gave a laugh at his shocked face.

"Stupid dwarf," she muttered as she walked towards the wizard. "You've now got another gargoyle with you whether you like it or not. If you don't let me come with you and don't let me do what I want, I will make sure all of you die before you finish what you started. And I'll start with the elves."

Gandalf was very surprised with what she said as she walked towards the other gargoyle. She appeared to be more menacing than the other one that was with them. She appeared to be more distrustful than the other one.

'Elves?' he asked himself as he sat back down.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Shentree demanded suddenly. "Why don't we leave?"

"We are waiting for the sun to rise," replied Gandalf as he faced the two of them.

"That's stupid," Shentree muttered as she grabbed Narcissis' arm. "Why didn't you tell them about that?"

"Do they need to know everything about us?" growled Narcissis.

The two continued to growl at each other again before Legolas stepped in between them and gave them each a stern look.

"We will leave at morning, no matter what anyone else says. Is that clear?" Legolas told them before taking once last look between Narcissis and Shentree.

"That is clear," Shentree replied with a growl, agreeing to what he said.

Legolas walked to a nearby tree and leaned against it, carefully watching everyone around him. Particularly the two gargoyles. He and Narcissis weren't too fond of Shentree even since their first meeting and both knew that she could be very dangerous, especially when provoked. They knew that she was dangerous enough when unprovoked.

"Alright. Morning is when we shall leave," Shentree finally agreed, not believing what she was hearing. "I can't believe that this is happening. I can't believe that I am actually agreeing to this."

00000

The Fellowship moved forward on their trek for some time before coming to a formation of rocks.

Narcissis and Shentree sat atop their own rock, keeping an eye out for each other's moves while Boromir was giving Merry and Pippin some lessons. Aragorn was watching the lesson and was giving his advice.

"If I didn't know any better, I would say we were taking the long way around," Gimli told Gandalf. "We could pass through the Mines of Moria. My cousin Balin would give us a royal welcome. He can give such a welcome for us."

"No, I would not go through the mines unless I had no other choice. Right now, we have other choices," Gandalf replied as he looked over at Gimli.

Legolas soon stood atop a rock and looked off into the distance. He soon gave out the warning of the crebain and they hurried to hide.

Narcissis hurried to hide behind one of the rocks but a cramp in her stomach stopped her. Legolas glanced over at her to see her clutching her stomach in pain.

"No!" he quietly said.

He hurried over to her and helped her to the safety of the rocks as the crebain passed. Shentree noticed this action and laughed to herself in realization.

'I should have seen it before!' she thought to herself as a smile crept onto her face. 'This, I can use against them. This, I can definitely use. I never expected this at all.'

"The south path is being watched. We must take the mountain. The pass of Caradhas," Gandalf told the group as he looked upwards to the sky.

Aragorn hurried over to Legolas and Narcissis, who was on her knees, trying not to show too much pain.

"Are you alright?" he asked her as Gimli watched them.

"I will be fine," she replied before starting to walk after the group.

Gimli was soon giving her a wary and distrusting look towards the two gargoyles. Shentree was smiling to herself as she watched the scene.

"She's not well Legolas," Aragorn told his friend. "What is the matter?"

"No, she is not. Now I really do not want her to be here. I do not know what is wrong," Legolas replied. "She does not belong here, with us on this journey. The only reason she is here is because of Shentree."

Gimli watched Legolas and Aragorn as they continued to keep an eye out for Narcissis. He also saw the distrustful looks they were giving Shentree.

'What is going on with those two? They act as if they know the one gargoyle rather well and she's a friend of theirs. It also appears that the other they've met but never got along. I wonder how they all met each other? Even better, how they're still alive. With what I heard about gargoyles, once you meet one, a person doesn't tend to become friends or enemies with them. They're usually dead and can't tell the tale to anyone,' Gimli thought to himself.

TBC...

Author's note-For all those wondering about what Shentree was saying about Legolas Nanaylia escaping from her 'territory', it's reference to my story 'Journey of a Thousand Steps.' (And for any of you wondering about her comment about what happened to a friend of Legolas', it's actually a reference to a story I'm intending to put up at a later date. It will be more explained in a later chapter.)